Power Hungry Computer Servers

These graphics have been making the circuit (this link has been forwarded to me by three different sources). Interesting stuff.

Earlier this month, the P-I ran a front page story about a gigantic tax break that’s in the works for Microsoft, Yahoo!, Intuit, Ask.com, Google — companies who want to tap into cheap hydro power along the Columbia River.

The companies are increasingly building huge computer server facilities where data for search engines and services such as YouTube are processed and stored.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and supporters of the bill from both sides of the political aisle say the server farms stimulate the economy by spreading the property tax base, creating jobs and attracting high-tech firms to this state.

But detractors counter that the tax break does not include any performance measures to make sure the development actually delivers those benefits. They contend that these server farms (which, according to Fortune, have footprints equivalent to seven Costco stores) have profound impacts on water and elasticity in the power market.

Detractors also say that Washington shouldn’t be giving cut rates on a power that is the envy of most other markets. Columbia River power is still comparably cheap and much cleaner than power from coal fired plants. They say there’s no shortage of industries that would love to tap into that socket.
The Fortune story raises some other interesting points.
Including this:

No wonder Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft all are building their server farms in the Pacific Northwest, near hydroelectric power plants selling cheap electricity. “If I saved just $10 in the operation of each of those servers, that’s $10 million per year,” says Greg Papadopolous, chief technology officer of Sun Microsystems. “So how much would you be willing to invest in order to save $10 per server? This is exactly the discussion companies had around the time of the Industrial Revolution.”

and this:

Microsoft reportedly will be able to purchase for as little as two cents a kilowatt-hour. (In comparison, engineers say utilities in California routinely charge 11 cents a kilowatt-hour.)